Ben X

Hmm, but the L4Ds are wave shooters with squad mechanics... What I meant was more like a long single-player campaign with designed encounters but for 2+ people. Again, like playing through HL2 with two players but if the levels had been designed for that rather than it being hacked in...

Oh really? Okay, cool. Maybe I'll play it a bit in single-player then keep it in reserve for whenever people are free for online co-op. Do people have much experience in playing something like Half-Life 2 co-op? I understand that's basically a fan-hack, though; are there any online co-op FPS campaigns that were created specifically with that sort of experience in mind?

I've played it once ever! I did find being surrounded by veterans removed any possible frustration, but perhaps a team comprised wholly of noobs would be a different experience also worth having!

As per our PMs, I am available! I think it's probably fair to give Jut, Paul and Osmo first dibs on spots? That leaves one space definitely free, plus any that aren't filled by those three. I guess if there are enough other people wanting to play tomorrow they could set up on another server and we could rotate?

I WOULD RECOMMEND you buy it for me then.

Finished! I got past that mech fight using some tactical hints from a walkthrough and a lot of patience, but it wasn't fun. After that, though, the game picked up again. It went back to human enemies, gave me some nice stealthy sections and even a 'limited battery flashlight' section where you need your heat-vision ('nanovision' here, nonsensically) to navigate and smoke fools but that means you can't have any of your other powers on. Apart from that it was mostly bombast, which frankly I was quite relieved about. I was able to cloak through most enemy groups so it basically turned into a very impressive action movie simulator, where you're running over collapsing bridges, jumping between buildings as they collapse, and navigating a levitating, crumbling Central Park. I power-kicked a NY taxi-cab off the side, then a few minutes later I saw an alien doing the same so I indignantly chucked a red barrel at him and blew him over the edge. The story was mostly science men and army men shouting at me or each other. It did some cool transhumanism stuff though, where it revealed that all the people wearing nanosuits are basically walking corpses (or 'robocops'), kept alive by the suits but too damaged to live if they ever leave them. It's also implied that the suit overwrites your personality with Prophet's at the end, and also the guy speaking to you through the game turns out to be a >100 year old dude in a cryo tank who's communicating through a computer simulacra of himself - all very Bioshock. AND it turns out that the aliens have built a ton of subterranean stuff across the planet centuries ago, not just the ones from the first two games (which reminded me of the route the Spielberg War Of The Worlds adaptation took). The storytelling isn't too sophisticated, it's overstuffed, and the ideas aren't super-original, but I quite like the unfolding mythos. So basically, looks gorgeous, impressive action setpieces and occasionally recaptures the Crysis glory, but far too much annoying stuff, dull stuff and linearity. Contemporary review - agree with a lot of it, but it's far too generous Making of from a few weeks after release (almost completely technology-related. One interesting snippet: "'I'm a strong believer that we should already be at Avatar quality in real-time, but the mass market (not everyone has the highest end cards or CPUs for example) is significantly delaying this next step,' observes Tiago Sousa.") Forum thread Retrospective vid (haven't watched this yet, can't vouch for quality): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA9MHcpEeQo And that vid that Roderick linked to previously: @Jutranjo mentioned he had a Crysis franchise vid to link to as well, though it may be the same one... And while I'm bringing up stuff people previously posted, here's @aoanla's E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy review at a closer chronological point, as promised. Next: Sanctum. Not sure how I came to own this. It's a tower defense FPS. No idea if I'll play it for more than 5 minutes, but it got good reviews apparently, and looks nice and cartoony and bright which will be a nice change.

Ugh, this has devolved into purely siege sections and fight giant mech sections, both of which are incredibly dull. The mechs in particular highlight just how under-powered your super-soldier is - you have to flank them and shoot their big glowy weak spot (of course) at the back with a rocket launcher or similar. Problem is, as soon as you get a shot in, it immediately throws an EMP at you so you lose all your power and have to limp off as quickly as possible hoping to get cover before it shoots you. Then wait for your power to regen (assuming it's not constantly throwing more EMP area attacks at you), then spend 3 minutes trying to flank it again because you move so slowly and it will turn around on a whim. It also seems to be able to hear your lightest footstep which makes it all extra difficult. Meanwhile you've got infinispawning enemy foot-soldiers running around too. Plus, like Paul said, the checkpoints are a pain in the arse - you always have to kill two grunts and run around picking up all your weapons at the start of each attempt before the mech shows up. This may be where I quit the game...

Oh man, I'd love to play co-op Helm's Deep with all the proper LOTR characters and enemies and events and stuff.

Yeah, that's all pretty spot-on. It's basically "ooh, this bit is some Crysis-y fun... oh no, another annoying bit. Ugh, one of these guys. WHERE ARE MY KOREANS?" I've bought the faster power-recharge and that's pretty much the only interesting upgrade, so I'm just cloaking past as much of the game as I can, much like Cordeos said. The aliens might be bipeds now, but they're just not as fun to play against partly because they have no character. I'm about three quarters of the way through the game, so I don't think this will get any more fun. The difference is glaring when I compare this to my recent Crysis 1 replay where I was loving it pretty much all the way through - even the bits I had got stuck on originally (tank level, zero-g level, escort guy to various fires level) I was able to race through to more fun sections.

I'm surprised no one likes the pig episode - I think it's fantastic. A simple but intriguing concept and cutting satire.

Aaaand I'm at a siege section. Can't be bothered with one of these so I'll take a break. I've been exclusively fighting aliens since very early on in the game, and while they're bipeds and basically just tough soldiers, so it's not as bad as the ones from the first game, they are really tough so there's not a lot of scope for messing around with your powers and such. Bit of a slog.

I've heard that it is, but it's not on my list so I will likely never find out!

Yep!

Me too, but as previously stated the times in the near future that I'm most likely to be available, especially when it requires staying up late to overlap with other timezones, are the next three days.

I'll take a look! Meanwhile, Crysis 2 is as linear as advertised. Even when it does open up an action bubble, they tend to be slightly wider corridors. Taken on its own terms as a mainly linear shooter, it's fine. Very impressive pyrotechnics and the basic 'cloak-decloak-shoot some fools-recloak and retreat' pattern is still fun. Other differences: you now have to tag your own enemies, which is fine but a strange choice when they're streamlining everything else; there's some light RPG stuff where you kill aliens to get nanopoints and upgrade your suit - unfortunately it's heavily restricted and ineffective so I've basically disregarded it already. It's fine, it just doesn't stand up to the fun of Far Cry 1 or Crysis 1.

I played the very start of Crysis 2. It opens with the by-now-classic FPS trope a tilting, sinking ship. Then Prophet from the first game shows up and promptly kills himself, which was actually pretty shocking considering he's a character with zero personality. And now I'm into wrecked New York. The game looks really nice. The suit controls have been streamlined a bit - you automatically get speed and strength if you run or jump over stuff, I'm guessing the same will be true of strength. So your only options are armour or cloak. I'm surprised they didn't just put armour on the whole time too, to be honest. I'll have to check if that drains your energy more now or something. The enemies are now slightly futuristic looking marine types. I'm glad they mixed up the setting for the sequel, but I do kind of miss the North Koreans a little.

I kind of like the theme tune, it's like a not-yet-formed version of other Trek themes, which fits well with the line design imagery. Though it moves away from that into sounding very much like Fringe, which is a bit distracting.

First two episodes are up. 'Stilted' is the word that comes to mind. I'm also surprised it's so serialised. I expect it will become less of both s-words as it goes on.

If anyone fancies some online co-op gaming, I'll be free for the next few days at pretty much any time, including more American type timezones. Feel free to PM me, or organise something amongst yourselves and invite me along! (Also, I've edited some links into my previous post now.)

Yeah, L4D2 was great fun, even though I sucked at it (being a noob)! I finished Condemned. It turned into a little bit of a slog towards the end, as they took away my taser and put me up against a row of really tough enemies. The end fight was just a bunch of them in a room then brawling with the same Pinhead-type guy 3 times in a row, as you strip out his metal spine like you're opening a can of corned beef, and then finally rip his jaw off. It was all rather underwhelming. They did manage to keep the scares and chills up all the way through up til then, though - heroin addicts weaving through water on their backs towards you, or turning around to discover a bunch of mannequins have appeared behind you. The writing throughout was abysmal, and the ending particularly bad. They make sure to tell you one banal bit of information about a million times throughout the game, but then when it ends they leave a ton of plot threads dangling in a way that seems purely due to clumsy dialogue, plus they chuck in "oh, there seems to be an ancient cult involved, bye". Very frustrating, and not in a 'we're leaving this for the sequel' kind of way. Speaking of the sequel, apparently it goes bananas - your character is now alcoholic and has to keep drinking booze to keep his vision clear, plus he's fighting a massive cult conspiracy as well as possessed baby dolls, crazy clowns, and bears. Overall I liked the game, but the block move is flaky yet accounts for like 40% of the game mechanics, plus it's really repetitive and badly written. Retrospective - I agree with all this, but it doesn't mention a few of the problems A designer at Raven calls out the good and bad - agreed on all this as well. I also forgot to mention the irritating quirk that if you have a gun and want to get a first aid kit you either have to waste one of your few bullets shooting it open, or run off to find another weapon, swap for that, go break open the kit, then run back to your gun and pick that back up again. Wrestlevania's review post Toblix was too scared to play it Next up: Crysis 2.

I agree with both Roderick and Tycho on Kingsman 2, somehow. It was fine and had some good moments in it, but mostly an overlong re-run of the first one but lacking its impetus.

Okay, I've done dilapidated abandoned tenement building and metro station tunnels, I'm now onto dilapidated abandoned department store. This is where mannequin guy gets his mannequins. It's feeling a little repetitive already, but there are some new enemies - brutes and wall-crawling weirdoes - to play with. It's introducing more supernatural stuff too, which is effectively creepy - rat-creatures scuttling through adjacent rooms into vents, one guy disappeared into thin air before my eyes and I'm also getting visions of flocks of birds crashing through windows or what the serial killer's been up to. (I think I read a few years ago that the bird stuff never gets explained, but it's still good flavour - they're flocking to certain areas then having brain haemorrhages and die, and these areas are the same that are seeing huge aggressive crime spikes. Presumably the killer and/or myself are giving off some kind of psychic signal.) I'm getting a bit better at blocking. It seems the trick is to wait til the last moment, though this doesn't always work either. I'm wondering if different enemy/weapon combos mean I have to adjust my timing slightly. If so, that's asking for a ridiculous amount of finesse. It's very satisfying when it works, though, and you block a swipe, crack them in the head, kick them to the floor then snap their neck. Combined with the 'tase 'em, steal their weapon' move, you've got a few options. Still some irritations, though, like how stealing someone's weapon causes them to grab you so you have to waggle your mouse to get loose but there's no way to tell when you've succeeded or which way you're facing, so you often end up facing away from them doing a Turner And Hooch impression like an idiot. Or how you're only able to hold one thing, so if you've got a shotgun with 4 bullets but there's one on the floor with 2 you're not able to combine the ammo, and you can't just tuck a pistol into your belt or something to tactically save it for later, you just have to use it on the first mook that comes along until the bullets run out then swap it for whatever comes to hand. The melee system is the focus of the game, so these little quirks glare more than they might in another game. I feel like I might need another game to dip into while I'm going through this, as it's not something you binge-play. The pacing is too methodical for that (not in a bad way), plus like I say there's the repetition. Seems I'm about halfway through, which suggests there won't be much more variety but not much more padding either.

I'm halfway through the second level of Condemned, and generally liking it. It's basically a serial killer/CSI type thing and boy does it lean into the tropes - Se7en-style opening titles (haven't seen those since SiN and Thief 1), mannequins in abandoned tenement buildings, scanning for clues with little gadgets (no semen yet though). They do lampshade this right at the start, though, with a fellow detective complaining that the serial killers never go to nice clean places for their killings. And tropey though it is, the atmosphere's pretty effective, as you slowly creep around some grotty location, hearing what might be footsteps above you, then seeing a paint can move out of the corner of your eye. Then suddenly a crazy guy's running at you and you're stoving his head in with a lead pipe you pulled off the wall. The serial killer stuff is mixed in with some hints of supernormal abilities too, which is pretty cool. It's not as brutal or as scary as I remember it being when I played the demo (which consisted of the first level) at the time, but I think that might be because I'm just coming off Bioshock which pulls a few of the same moves in its early stages when you're whacking away at splicers with your spanner. And to be fair, I have felt a little nervy walking around the flat on my own after playing it! Some things kill the atmosphere a little - a lot of bad line readings, and the 'find all the dead birds for achievements!' sub-quest which the game sometimes prioritises over the homicidal junkies swinging planks of wood at your head. It's got a pleasingly simple melee system - swing, block, kick, use the taser if possible; basically the Prince Of Persia system, which I see as the platonic ideal. The one thing letting it down is that it's so damn hard to time blocking correctly. I'm sure I had this problem with at least one other game, perhaps Jedi Knight 2? [EDIT: looking back, also TRON and Riddick] If I see a dude start to swing at me and I click block before he hits me, it shouldn't read as mistimed! Or if you're going to insist on there only being a brief window for success, give me a tutorial so I understand it, because it's too damn frustrating having to work it out during the real thing. It's generally doing well at making me feel like Will Graham, though, so I'll be eagerly getting back to it tomorrow (in daylight, phew!).

Wow, your cinema still does breaks? Did that feel like a bit of respite in this film or did it come too early? The last film I remember seeing with a break was Back To The Future II in 1989 (it came when Marty gets knocked out outside the Biff Tannen museum and it fades to black).

I don't know much about that area, I'm afraid. There's an old topic here which might have some suggestions, but it's a few years old now, so folks here might have more up to date suggestions... (For people like me who can never remember what grades mean, 7th grade = 12 -13 years old) Welcome to the forums, by the way, @Sia - sorry for the immediate interrogation!